Method and apparatus for effecting gold or tin dental stoppings



May 19, 1925. 1,538,832

I I c. E. LUCE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING GOLD 0R TIN DENTAL STOPPINGS Filed March 9. 1923 .Ziurfe 1423i Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT .OFFICE.

CHARLES LUCE, 0F STUTTGART, GERMANY.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING GOLD 0R TIN DENTAL STOPPINGS.

Application filed March 9, 1923. Serial No. 624,034.

To all ZUZZOWL it may conccm:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. Loon, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 32 Stafllenbergstrasse, Stuttgart, Germany, have invented certain new and useful lmproven'ients in Methods and Apparatus for Eftecting Gold or Tin Dental Stoppings, of which the following is a specification.

The methods hitherto usually employed for the effecting of dental stoppings with gold, or other materials, have a number of serious disadvantages which make their employment diflicult. Thus, gold stoppings in particular can only be effected with an expenditure of considerable trouble, skill and time; besides which, the patient is subjected to much discomfort. According to the most usual method, the gold-foil is first heated red-hot and then worked piece by piece into the tooth-cavity with gold-stopping instruments and hammered into place; such stoppings are seldom homogeneous or hermetic. Another method that is employed, the socalled casting method, has, in, addition to the disadvantages mentioned, the drawback that only rarely is a perfectly fitting stopping attained and moreover, the gold stopping has finally to be cemented into the cavity of the tooth. relates to a method which entirely obviates all these disadvantages. It is based on the idea that pure gold, freshly heated red-hot, becomes cohesive and is for some time capable of cold welding. The method, ac cording to the invention, is carried out in the following manner. F inely divided gold, preferably very thin dental-foil, in the form of ver 1 tiny flakes, is drawn by suction through a quartz-glass tube, which heated to incandescence and by means of compressed air, or some other medium, is conducted into the tooth-cavity until the latter is completely filled; it is clear that each tiny flake, or particle of gold, will be heated red-hot while passing through the incandescent quartz-glass tube and thus be annealed anc rendered cohesive and capable of cold welding. The particles of gold which have been heated red-hot and rendered cohesive are conducted onwards by the compressed air, or other medium and thrown on to the desired point by means of a suitable mouth-piece. As soon as they encounter a resistance, they lie flat, through the air pressure, one on the other and mutual- Now the present invention ly weld together. according to the present invention, it is possible to give the gold application any form or thickness and in the same manner stoppings of tin, or a mixture of gold and tin, may be effected. The stoppings effected in this manner fit exactly in the cavity in the tooth and the expenditure of time is exceedingly small compared with that in volved in any of the methods hitherto employed. Particular skill is, moreover, not necessary for insuring perfectly satisfactory results and the effecting of such stoppings proceeds with little discomfort to the patient.

An apparatus for carrying out the process is illustrated in the drawing, in side elevation, in one example of construction.

Finely divided gold is put into a receptacle a, which can be placed in comunication with a compressed-air pipe 0, by means of a valve Z2, below. The receptacle acommunicates above with a device which enables the particles of gold to be heated, annealed and made cohesive. In the example of construction shown, the device consists of a quartz glass tube (Z, which is heated to incandescence by means of an electric current, and through which the particles of gold conveyed from the receptacle a, through a pipe 0 are conveyed and heated red-hot and thereby rendered cohesive. The particles of gold are conducted from the quartz-glass tube (Z, through a pipe f, to the place where they are employed. For this purpose, a flexible tube which. terminates in a nozzlelike mouthpiece and attached to the pipe d, is indicated.

The pressure pipe, moreover, is directly connected with the pipe f, in order that it may be'possible to exercise a. suctional action in the receptacle 0,, for which purpose an. opening 2' is provided in the cover 72 Thereby with the assistance of the compressed air in the receptacle a, it is possible to produce a suctional action in the receptacle (1, by means of which the particles of gold are drawn through the heating device (Z and into the pipe f, in which. they are then carried by the compressed air to the place where they are employed. In order to effect an adequate suction of gold particles, some of the latter are set into active motion by opening the valve 7).

The formation and details of the apparatus are optional. The method may be em- By means of this method,

ployed also for other purposes besides dental stoppings.

I claim as my invention 1. An apparatus for treating and delivering gold dental stoppings, comprising a receptacle for the materiaL in a finely divided condition, a pressure conduit for delivering the material in its original finely divided condition from the receptacle directly to the tooth, and means for heating the material during such delivery to render the particles of the material cohesive, said heating means forming a part of said conduit.

2. An apparatus for treating and delivering gold dental stoppings, comprising a receptacle for the material in a finely divided condition, a pressure conduit for delivering the material in its original finely divided condition from the receptacle direct- 20 ly to the tooth, and means for heating the material during such delivery to render the particles of the material cohesive, said heat- *ing means forming a part of said conduit,

and a by-pass forming a part of said pres- 25 sure conduit, and leading around the receptacle and heating means.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES E. LUGE.

lVitnesses MAURICE ALTAFFER, HILDEGARD Hni'rrnn. 

